Combined shirt board and collar support



Jan. 14, 1947. D. J. BELLIN COMBINED SHIRT BOARD AND COLLAR SUPIiORT Filed Aug. 22, 1945 mm L mu B m Dara I. J

A! TTOPAN/EY Patented Jan. 14, 1947 CGMBINED SHIRT BOARD AND COLLAR SUPPORT Daniel J. Bellin, New York, N. Y.

Application August 22, 1945, Serial No. 611,930

Claims.

- This invention relates to a combined shirt board and collar support of the type employed to keep a freshly laundered shirt unwrinkled until it is delivered to a customer.

It is anobject of the invention to provide a device ofthe character described, which supports the collar better and more fully than like devices heretofore used for the same general purpose.

It is another object of the invention to provide a device of the character described which, although affording additional collar support, nevertheless may be integrally fashioned in a simple manner from a single sheet of cardboard or similar self-form-maintaining material.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part will hereinafter be pointed out.

The invention, accordingly, consists of the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafterdescribed, and of whic the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a shirt wrapped about my improved shirt board and collar support;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View, taken substantially along the lines 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, taken substantially along the lines 3--3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the combined shirt board and collar support as it appears just before a shirt is wrapped thereon.

' Referring now to the drawing, l0 denotes a device comprising a combined shirt board and collar support, adapted to have a shirt l2 wrapped thereon, as shown in Fig. 1. Said device In comprises a rectangular shirt board I4 of self-formmaintaining sheet material, such as cardboard or the like, fashioned to any conventional size commonly employed for shirt boards.

A tongue I 6 is struck out of the shirt board M by a suitable die-cutting method. The end [8 of said tongue is left integrally connected to said board and is located near the edge 36 of the board at which the shirt collar 28 is placed. Said tongue runs lengthwise of the elongated shirt board and is disposed centrally thereof. The tongue has the general outline of a double barred tau cross, and includes a shank 22 having a cross bar 24 at its free ends and a cross bar 26 intermediate its ends. The intermediate cross bar 26 preferably is of uniform width and the arms of the end cross bar 24 preferably converge toward the shank 22. For reasons which will soon be apparent, the shank 22 is creased or scored or otherwise weakened transversely in several places.

One such transverse crease 28 is provided along the line of connection between the top cross bar 24 and the shank 22. Another transverse crease 30 is formed in the shank in alignment with the top transverse edge of the intermediate cross bar 26. Still another transverse crease 32 is formed in the shank in alignment with the bottom transverse edge of the intermediate cross bar. A fourth transverse crease 34 is provided in the shank 22 a distance from the connected end t8, slightly greater than the space between said end and the back of the collar 20. Desirably, the shank is also transversely creased at the end l8.

The tongue I6 is so dimensioned that the distance between the creases 32 and 34 is slightly greater than the height of the back of the collar 20 plus the thickness of the shirt board 114. The distance between the creases 30 and 32 is less than the distance between the creases 32 and 34 by about the thickness of the shirt board. The distance between the creases 28 and 30 is about equal to the distance from the bottom of the back of the collar to the top of the front of the collar. The distance from the crease 28 to the free end of the tongue is equal to or slightly greater than the height of the front of the collar when the shirt is wrapped on the device ill.

The widths of the cross bars 24 and 26 may be varied according to the desired degree of support, but, in general, the end cross bar 24 is long enough to afford ample support to the curved front of the collar and the intermediate cross bar 26 is long enough to afford ample support to the less curved back of the collar, thus leaving unsupported small lateral portions of the collar; although it will be obvious that, if desired, two, cross bars may be long enough to fully support the; entire ollar.

The device I0 is employed as follows: The tongue I6 is folded back to the position illus-- trated in Fig. 4 and a freshly laundered shirt I 2 is: wrapped thereon in a conventional manner, with the collar 2! on the face of said device opposite to that against which said tongue is disposed. At this time, as will be apparent from Fig. 2, the crease 34 is immediately below and behind the outside of the back of the collar. The tongue now is folded upwardly about the crease 36, thereby placing the crease 32 just above the top of the back of the collar. Now the remaining part of the tongue is folded downwardly to dispose the crease 30 immediately above and in front of the bottom of the back of the collar at the inside thereof. Finally, the end bar 24 is bent downwardly about the crease 28 and the remaining part of the shank 22 swung about the crease 30 until said end bar is slipped in behind the inside of the front of the collar, the bar 24 being bowed manually so that it can be received inside the collar.

The material of which the device I!) is made is self-form-maintaining, except where creased or scored, so that, after bowing pressure is released,

the end bar will press against the inside of the front of the collar. The intermediate cross bar is manipulated in similar fashion and, likewise,

will press against the inside of the back of the collar. The position which the device assumes upon the foregoing handling is clearly shown in Figs. 1-3, the shirt l2 in Figs, 2 and 3 being denoted by dot and dash lines so as to illustrate more clearly the operative position of the device.

Attention is called to the fact that the back of the shirt collar 28 is iirmlyheld between the intermediate cross bar and the portion of the shank 22 between the creases 32 and 3t. The portion of the shank between the creases 28 and 30 maintains both cross bars 24, 25 in their desired positions. The bottom edge of the intermediate cross bar 26 runs along the bottom edge of the back of the collar at the inside thereof and the top edge of said cross bar runs along the top edge of the back of the collar, inasmuch as the back of the collar and the intermediate cross bars are of substantially the same uniform height. The outer edge 38 of the end cross bar runs along the bottom edge of the front of the cellar at the inside thereof and the opposite edge 46 of said cross bar approximatel conforms to the contour of the upper edge of the front of the collar, because this edge of the collar slopes downwardly from the back of the collar toward the front and the edge d5 of the end cross bar flares outwardly away from the opposite edge 38 of said bar 23. Since the tongue i6 is located centrally of the shirt hoard, i. e., within the edges thereof, the device can be made without employing any more material than would be required' for the shirt board itself.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a combined shirt board and collar support which achieves the several objects of my invention and is well adaptedto m'eet'theconditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be mad of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth. it is to be understood that all matter herein-described or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a-lirniting sense.

Having thus described my invention, 1' claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A device comprising a shirt board of selfforIn-maintaining material having an integral coplanar tongue centrally provided therein with an end of the tongue integrally connected to said board, said tongue including a shank, a cross bar at the free end of said shank and a second cross bar intermediate the ends of the shank, said shank having a first transverse'crease at its point of connection to the end cross bar, second and third transverse creases at the top and bottom edges of the intermediate cross bar and a fourth transverse crease between the third crease and the connected end of the shank, the distance from said connected end of the tongue to the fourth crease being slightly greater than the di tance from said end of the tongue to the back of the collar of a shirt wrapped on the device, the distance between the third and fourth creases be- 4 ing approximately equal to the height of the rear of the shirt collar plus the thickness of the shirt board, the height of the intermediate cross bar being uniform and about equal to that of the rear of said collar and the distance between the two cross bars being about equal to the distance from the inner bottom edge of the rear of the collar to the inner top edge of the front of the collar, the height of the end cross bar at the center thereof being about equal to that of the front of the collar, the transverse edges of said end cross bar flaring outwardly.

2. A device comprising a shirt board of selfform-maintaining material having an integral coplanar tongue centrally provided therein, with an end of the tongue integrally connected to said board, said tongue including a shank, a crossbar at the free end of said shank and a second cross bar intermediate the ends of the shank,- said shank having a first transverse crease at its point of connection to the end cross bar, a second transverse crease at the bottom edge of the intermediate cross bar, a thirdtransverse crease at the top edge of the intermediate cross bar and a fourth crease between the third crease and the connected end of the tongue, said device being adapted to have a shirt draped thereon, and the shank, cross bars and creases being so proportioned and arranged that the tongue can be folded to dispose the fourth crease immediately below and behind the outside of the bottom edge of the rear of the collar, the third crease above the top edge of the rear of the collar, the second crease immediately above and in front of the bottom of the back of the collar at the inside thereof, and the first crease at the top of the front of the collar and to have the end cross bar backing up the front of the collar and the intermediate .cross bar backing up the back of the collar.

3. A device comprising a shirt board of selfform-maintaining material having anintegral coplanar tongue centrally provided therein,-With an end of the tongue integrally connected to said board, said tongue including a shank, a cross bar at the free end of said shank and a second cross bar intermediate the ends of the shank, said shank having a first. transverse crease at its pointof connection to the end cross bar, a second transverse crease at the bottom ed e of the intermediate cross bar, a third transverse creaseat the top edge of the intermediate cross bar and a fourth crease between the third crease and the connected end of the tongue,

4. A device comprising. a shirt: board. of self-- form-maintaining material having an integral coplanar tongue centrally provided therein with an end of the tongue integrally connected to-said board, said tongue including a shank and cross bar, said cross bar being adapted to be disposed at the rear of the front of the collar and to be held in place by the shank, said cross bar flaring, in width to both sides of said shank so that said crossbar can conform. approximately to'the contour of the front of the collar.

5. A device comprising a shirt board of selfform-maintaining material having an integral coplanar tongue centrally provided therein with an end of the tongueintegrally connected to saidboard, said tongue comprising a. shank and two cross bars spaced from each other and from the point of connection of'said tongue to aidiboard.

DANIEL J. BELLIN. 

